Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope you have managed to stay warm while the Melbourne winter has certainly taken a frosty turn. We have a wood fireplace in our house and it has been a saving grace on these chilly winter nights. When we built our house, we deliberately made it the focal point of our living room and it has been really lovely to be able to sit in front of it with the kids, with no TV and just chat or play card games. A favourite in our household is Sushi Go, it was a christmas gift last year from a staff member and it is loads of fun with the kids. We also received Uno “No Mercy”, not so fun, let me tell you!

MACS Vision for Engagement Launch

This week I had the pleasure of attending the MACS launch of the Vision for Engagement document. Deputy Premier Ben Carroll attended and spoke about the great strides Catholic Education in Melbourne has been making recently, himself a beneficiary of Catholic Education having attended St Christopher’s in Airport West and then St Bernard’s College.

The Vision for Engagement complements the Vision for Instruction piece launched last year. At St Mary’s we have been working to implement these evidenced informed strategies into our pedagogical tool kit. The Vision for Engagement document looks to put forth motivational, engaging routines, structures and practices that will allow for calm and productive learning environments in our schools. You may have seen our Executive Director, Ed Simons on local news media discussing the launch. I look forward to further releases and resources from this document and unpacking it with our staff, and the positive impact it will have on our students.

St Mary’s now an official feeder school to Ave Maria

I am pleased to announce that we have been able to secure a place for St Mary’s as an official feeder school to Ave Maria in Essendon. While we currently have a great offering of secondary schools that St Mary’s is an official feeder school to, since the welcome conversion of St Aloysius to a co-educational setting, our community has had one local girl’s secondary school setting to enroll in. This addition to be on Ave Maria’s official feeder school list will now give our community 3 girl’s secondary education school options to choose from: St Columbas in Essendon, Ave Maria in Essendon and Mary the Immaculate Academy in Fitzroy. We look forward to continuing our partnership and relationships with all of the secondary schools St Mary’s is a feeder school to.

Appointment of Physical Education and Positive Education Teacher

While we are all sad to see long standing teacher James Mitchell move on from St Mary’s, I am pleased to announce that we have secured Eamonn Murphy to take on this important role at our school. Eamonn comes to us with great experience from a number of educational settings including primary school teaching, alternative school settings and most recently as English and Physical Education teacher at a local secondary school. Here Eamonn was a junior school football coach and he has a passion for running and sport in general. We look forward to Eamonn joining our team of educators and will welcome him in for a transition day in the coming weeks.

Build update

We are almost at the end of our Roseberry Street refurbishment building project that began in mid December last year. This week the cabinetry for the 4 refurbished classrooms was installed, beautifully finishing off these spaces with great storage, wooden finishes to bring material warmth and prayer nooks to have a space for quiet contemplation. The cabinets highlight the blue theme for our patron Saint Mary and will soon have a tie in to St Mary of the Immaculate Conception church, with the stunning blue stain glass rose at the rear of the church being featured in a stylised decal on the prayer nooks. This and the entry way signage will serve to make a real connection between our school and our beautiful church building.

The administration space is nearly complete with cabinets, flooring and electrical fit offs all taking place. I was also able to have a sneak peak at the entrance way feature wall that serves as a tribute to Mary and will be a prominent symbol and tribute to Our Lady in the entrance to our school. I can’t wait until the start of term 3 where the administration building will be open and our school can resume operations as usual.

Traveling to and from school - safety

I have again been informed by members of our school community and local neighbours of some of our students riding and moving unsafely through our local streets. This is particularly occurring across Epsom Road towards the Walter Street reserve. These community members and residents are concerned for our students' safety as they are reportedly riding and moving in an unsafe manner, running the risk of collision with cars.

If your child makes their way home through these areas, could you please discuss moving around our streets safely? Your assistance with this is greatly appreciated.

A reminder that the Pink Zones at the front and rear of the school are not parking areas. You must stay in your car and wait for your child(ren), moving up the queue as it progresses. Thank you for helping to keep our school pick ups a safe environment.

Be The Light

My example of Be The Light this week comes from our Foundation students. If I’m having a tough day, or if I simply want my day to have a little lift, all I need to do is go pay our Foundation students a visit. They always greet me with a big smile and great enthusiasm. I can’t leave their presence without handing out a plethora of high fives and the joy they have in this simple action is priceless. The light they have grows brightly inside them and shines out through the joy they share with the world, lighting the path of those they meet. May it always glow brightly.

Stay safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected,

Denis Johnstone

Principal

Positive Behaviour Learning (PBL)